Deerstalker
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A deerstalker is a type of hat that is typically worn in rural areas, often for hunting. Because the hat's popular association with Sherlock Holmes, it is also a stereotypical hat of a detective.
Its main feature is the set of four flexible brim flaps that are position back, forth and the sides of the hat. They can be adjusted up or down to suit the needs of the wearer depending on the weather. The most common arrangement is the front and back flaps being down while the side ones are folded up and tied into place. The checkered pattern inherent in the twill fabric also helps as camouflage and modern hunting clothes (including deerstalkers) are often made with a red-and-black or orange-and-black check pattern for this and hunter safety.
The most famous wearer of this kind of hat is the fictional character Sherlock Holmes, who is typically depicted favoring this hat. However, uninformed depictions which have Holmes wearing this hat in the city fail to realize that the fashion-conscious Holmes in the original stories would never do that. This is because this kind of hat was restricted to the country and was considered a fashion faux pas to wear one in an urban setting. It would be the modern-day equivalent of wearing safety orange clothes as casual wear in an urban area, which is generally considered inappropriately out of place. The stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never actually call the hat that Holmes wears a deerstalker. That was inferred by the original illustrator of the stories, Sidney Paget, who always portrayed Holmes as wearing the hat in its proper context (i.e., during rural adventures).
The cartoon character Elmer Fudd's oversized deerstalker marks him to modern, urban eyes as a buffoon.
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